Parade of Homes

This year I took Anna and we went to the Parade of Homes with my Mom, two sister-in-laws, 1 nephew and 1 niece. It was a lot of fun and we saw some cool homes that covered all spectrums! The kids held up incredibly well and luckily we went on weekdays so there weren't as many people and they could run more. That was some of the fun - keeping the kids where they were supposed to be.


One time Anna and her cousin Peter decided to look in the neighbors mail slot - luckily the townhome hadn't sold.







And sometimes they just got tired of walking.

After all the time spent in the car over two days - the girls still wanted to play in it when we got home.

It is fun for Anna to have her cousin Jerika so close now.

Silly Mom

So the past two weekends we have spent time doing something I never thought I would do...enter my kids in a baby contest. After doing it I don't think I will do it again. I guess you have to try everything once.
Two weeks ago I entered Anna in the Orem Summerfest baby contest. We went, had a picture taken, and then they did an "interview" with Anna. Since Anna isn't the most outgoing kid, she didn't do so well with that.

Right before the Orem contest I had entered Anna in the Provo Freedom Festival. After Orem I wasn't to excited about Provo but we had paid the money.... So last Saturday we spent some time at UVU at that contest. There they don't take pictures - they just interview. Oh dear. After shaking the judge's hand Anna proceeded to try to get away by crawling over my shoulder. It was fun times. I did take a picture before we left so I have something to put in her book.

So, this is what I have learned from the experience. If you don't have an outgoing, social child - you aren't going to win. Even if you have people tell you all the time (even in the stores) that your child is cute - if they are not outgoing they won't win. On the bright side we did get a photo (Orem) and a participation ribbon and cookies (Provo). Experience is a great teacher and even if she isn't outgoing, we still think she is beautiful!

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We spent the last week of May in Portland with Matthew's parents. We helped them do somethings around the house and had a good visit. We drove both ways which made for intersting times but we (Anna specifically) survived it. As per usual it rained all but one day that we were there. We took some time during a break in rain to go down to feed some ducks and geese. Anna thought it was fun until one of the geese came towards her (Anna had the bread in her hand) hissing. She did okay as long as they just ate from a distance.

Today Anna and I went out to garage sales. We got some really good deals and Anna is a great shopper. The best purchase of the day though was a stroller for her doll - a whopping $0.25! She had a great time pushing the stroller up and down the driveway and sidewalk. She can't drive straight though and kept running into the lawn and cars in the driveway. As she hit them she would giggle and giggle. Funny girl. The good news is she can't get her drivers license for another 15 years and hopefully by then she will have learned how to go straight.

She has really started talking. She will talk into her play phone and walk around the house and talk. She will yammer to me acting like I can understand everything she is saying. She is a joy to have around and keeps life interesting.